How To Get Rid Of Food Moths In The Kitchen And In The Apartment Forever (including Folk Remedies)

2024 Author: Bailey Albertson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 12:53

Note to the hostess: how to get rid of food moths

Each housewife takes care of the preservation of products in her kitchen. But one has only to give slack, and a dangerous enemy will start in your kitchen cabinets - food moth. This harmful insect settles in cereals, flour, dried fruits, bread, making food unusable and multiplying rapidly. If you notice a food moth within your apartment, urgently start fighting it, and we will help you with this.

Content

• 1 Food moth: who is it and how is it different from the usual
• 2 Reasons for the appearance

• 3 Getting Started with Destruction

  • 3.1 Household moth control products
  • 3.2 Folk remedies
• 4 Prevention
• 5 Video "Ways to combat food moths"

Food moth: who is it and how is it different from the usual

A food moth looks like a small moth up to 10 mm in size. Its color is inconspicuous, usually gray with splashes or brown with stripes. The pollen on the wings has a pearlescent sheen, but you can only see it on your palms after you swat the insect.

This is what a food moth looks like

The mole moves through the air, and the trajectory of its flight is so chaotic that it is very difficult to catch it. You've probably come across this: a long running around the kitchen and other rooms, and thunderous "applause" to this flying misfortune. Yes, it is almost impossible to destroy a mole with your hands - it is too fast and resourceful. The time of the activity of the moth is the night, when the insect can move freely and freely around the room. As soon as you notice her, she tries to fly away or hide in an inaccessible place.

The food moth does not live long, from several days to 3 weeks. But in this short period, the adult will bear so many offspring that the products in your kitchen will be in serious danger.

And this is a clothing moth. Don't mix it up!

In your house, not only food, but also clothing (carpet) moths can start. You need to be able to distinguish them from each other in order to understand in advance exactly where to look for the source of parasites. The clothing moth is lighter than food moth, it has a milky gray color. In addition, food is smaller in size.

If you find moths in the kitchen, check these foods right away:

• pasta;
• rice;
• buckwheat;
• nuts;
• peas;
• tea;
• sugar;
• semolina;
• oatmeal;
• coffee;
• cocoa;
• beans;
• biscuits;
• pet food;
• dried fruits.

It is here that the moth settles in the first place, and from here it gets into ready-made dishes. The biggest harm is caused not by the adult, but by the larvae. During the growth period, they eat dry foods, leaving cobwebs, feces, skins that appear after rebirth, and their dead "brothers". All these consequences of vital activity not only look unpleasant, but also poison the food to a certain extent.

Reasons for the appearance

If you find a food moth in your kitchen, do not rush to accuse yourself of carelessness and untidiness. If you did not inherit this insect from the previous owners of the house or apartment, then most likely you brought it from the store along with flour, cereals or cookies. The negligence of manufacturers and the unscrupulousness of sellers, who neglect the rules for processing and storing products, very often lead to the appearance of various insects and parasites.

Packaging with cereals contaminated with food moths: larvae and cobwebs are visible inside

In addition, nothing prevents moths from entering your territory on their own, through a window, door or ventilation holes. Warm dry weather is especially conducive to such travel.

In a new place, the moth looks for products that are attractive to itself and penetrates them, even gnawing through cellophane bags if necessary.

Cardboard packages are not at all a serious obstacle for our heroine. If you find a thin cobweb and light yellow worms in food, this is the first sign of infection.

We proceed to destruction

If you do find that moths appear in the kitchen, first try exposing it to temperature.

1. Take the packages of contaminated food and place them on the balcony (in winter in severe frosts) or in the freezer of the refrigerator. The temperature should be from minus 10 degrees and below. Keep food in these conditions for 2-3 days.

2. Infected cereals can be ignited at high temperatures, in a frying pan or in the oven. At a temperature of +60 degrees, it is enough to hold it for 1.5 hours.

   

   A plastic bag will not save your food: food moths chew through it easily

Such methods are only suitable if you have no more than 20% of your food contaminated. And it is not a fact that eggs or moth larvae will not remain in the processed and sieved cereals. Therefore, it is better, nevertheless, to throw away the affected products and start cleaning the premises from insects and their offspring, before going to the store for new supplies of cereals.

Household moth control products

The first thing to do is to do a general cleaning; the moth is afraid of light and soap.

Open all kitchen cabinets and wipe down all surfaces thoroughly with soapy water. Do this especially carefully in corners and crevices where insect cocoons can be stored. Wash all dishes containing contaminated food with laundry soap.

Wipe vinegar over all kitchen cabinet surfaces. Leave the kitchen to air out for a couple of hours.

Place special pheromone traps in the kitchen in the form of oblong pyramids open on both sides. At the bottom of such a trap, there is a pheromone bait that attracts adult male moths. Moths adhere firmly to the surface and pose no danger. The population gradually decreases until it dies completely.

Pheromone Glue Trap for Food Moth

Place the fly-repelling duct tape around the room. This method will help you to significantly reduce the number of adult moths. Sticky traps, which are attached to flat surfaces, operate on the same principle. They can be placed on the walls and doors of cabinets where you see the most moths.

There are many chemicals available to control food moths. They are divided into:

• insecticides - liquidation agents containing substances that poison insects;
• repellents - plant-based products that repel insects.

The most popular chemicals for this purpose are Raptor from moths, Armol and Kombat aerosol.

1. "Raptor" protection against moths is used against adult moths and larvae. It is sprayed on any surface, including kitchen furniture. The effective action lasts up to 12 months.
2. Aerosol "Armol" has an instant effect against butterflies and a prolonged one against larvae. Effective action - up to 6 months.
3. Aerosol Combat destroys moths at any stage of development - from eggs to adults. Easily penetrates into any crevices and joints, which increases the range of action of the product. Plus, this aerosol is safe for animals and humans.

These products should be used away from food, that is, take them out of the kitchen before processing and return after 1-2 days. In addition, all dry bulk products for long-term storage should be kept in tightly closed jars or containers. Otherwise, after contact with chemicals, the products become hazardous to health and unsuitable for food.

In addition to the above funds, there are also tablets "Desmol" and "Antimol", cassettes "Phytocid", "Gela", "Arsenal", "Zitol", plates "Moleboy". You can spread these products on or under cabinets for food moths to bypass your kitchen.

Folk remedies

If for some reason you do not trust the modern achievements of the chemical industry, use the advice of our grandmothers. Food moth does not tolerate pronounced odors, and it is they that can become your ally in the fight against an insect pest.

1. The smell of lavender. Any moth cannot tolerate it, so lavender has long been used both in its natural form and in the manufacture of chemicals. You can put a few drops of lavender oil on cotton swabs and spread them around the corners of the cabinets, or you can put small bouquets of fresh lavender flowers.

   

   Store lavender in kitchen cabinets

2. Citrus. Lemon and orange peels or essential oils of these fruits in the corners of kitchen cabinets will easily ward off adults.

   

   Use orange and lemon peels or essential oils

3. Put a few cloves of garlic in containers where you store cereals. The pungent smell will scare moths away from food. Garlic will not affect the taste and smell of cereals.

   

   Arrange the garlic cloves in a container of food

4. Spread bay leaves around the edge of your kitchen cabinet. They can also be added to containers with products that attract moths.

   

   Arrange bay leaves on the shelves of kitchen cabinets

5. The spicy smells of plants such as basil, fir, geranium, cloves, tansy, rosemary, wild rosemary are also excellent at repelling food moths. Apply scented oils with these scents to cotton swabs and spread out where you store moth-friendly foods.

   

   The moth does not tolerate spicy bright odors, so the essential oils of flowers will help you

6. The moth does not like the smell of wormwood, like many other harmful insects. Arrange small bouquets of this plant in kitchen cabinets.

   

   Wormwood

7. Fresh walnut leaves also have a very specific smell that moths don't like.

   

   Walnut leaves

8. A proven remedy is natural camphor and essential camphor oil. This smell will keep moths away from food cabinets.

9. Spread tobacco leaves on boxes and cabinets: the smell of tobacco is unpleasant. If your family has a smoker, his bad habit can be turned into good. After cleaning kitchen cabinets, you need to thoroughly “smoke” them from the inside with cigarette smoke. But fresh tobacco leaves are still much more effective.

   

   Dry tobacco leaves

Prevention

As you know, it is better to prevent a problem than to deal with it later. Therefore, adhere to certain rules so that one day you do not find unpleasant flying neighbors in the kitchen.

1. Do a general cleaning of the kitchen often. This room must be perfectly clean so that the moth has no reason to settle here. Wipe the surfaces with vinegar after cleaning.
2. The moth is very fond of stale air, so regularly ventilate all rooms, especially the kitchen. Turn on the cooker hood often.
3. Try to check cereals for larvae while still in the store. If you suspect, do not buy this package. If you do find contamination in food at home, throw it away. By the way, the too low price of cereals should alert you: perhaps the store is trying to quickly sell the goods spoiled by moths.
4. Warm all purchased cereals in the oven or in a pan. If you did not find infection in them during the check, the missed larvae will die during heat treatment.
5. Be sure to keep bags of aromatic herbs in your kitchen cabinets to keep moths away. It is completely harmless to you and very unpleasant for moths.
6. Seal the ventilation holes with a fine mesh. This will prevent insects from entering your apartment from neighbors. It is also advisable to cover the hood.

7. Store all dry bulk products tightly sealed. For example, in glass jars with tight-fitting lids.

   

   Store loose dry food in tightly sealed containers

8. There is an old folk method: put a clean nail in a container before pouring the cereal into it. So in the war, food was protected from the appearance of food moths.
9. Hide fruits in the refrigerator and do not store them in open spaces for a long time to avoid the appearance of fruit moths, which are a subspecies of food and are also happy to settle in cereals.
10. Be sure to dry kitchen counters and surfaces around your sink. Adults need a water source.
11. Periodically go through not only the food in the kitchen, but also the items throughout the house. Rewash, dry, ventilate so that the moth cannot hide there and equip the den. Otherwise, over time, she will return to the kitchen again.

So you can prevent the appearance of moths in your apartment, or prevent its reproduction at the very initial stage.

Video "Ways to combat food moths"

We hope our tips will help you not only get rid of food moths in your home, but also prevent them from appearing. Remember that prevention is the most important way to stop any trouble. Share with us in the comments your methods of getting rid of food moths. Good luck and comfort to your home!